Mighty John Avello Back Talking Sunday’s Big Game, Vegas’s Future: Former Las Vegas Resort Oddsmaker Now Sportsbook Director at DraftKings
For years, you would find veteran oddsmaker John Avello working on the Las Vegas Strip during the most important sports Sunday of the year. Now he is the sportsbook director at the daily fantasy sports platform DraftKings.
The sports betting side of DraftKings continues to expand as wagering is now active in more than 10 states. For the biggest football game of the year, between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, DraftKings has purchased two commercial spots. This weekend’s game will be one of the most wagered on sporting events in America.
One of DraftKings commercials will direct viewers across the country to go to www.draftkings.com to partake in a free contest, during the fourth quarter of the game. There will be one million dollars in prizes up for grabs. Since there is no cost to enter, we were informed that people can play even if their state does not allow the DraftKings sports betting platform yet. The daily fantasy sports outlet is continuing to make its mark, as more people participate in online fantasy and sports betting.
Besides being able to wager on the biggest football game in a broad variety of ways this Sunday on DraftKings, John Avello told us how the company will leave its mark during the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers showdown on Sunday:
“What I’m most excited about is what’s gonna happen on Sunday during the game that we’ve never done before, no one’s ever done. And I’ll tell you about that right now. We are running two commercials, national commercials. The second being about the fourth quarter and to come to DraftKings and play a free one million dollar fourth quarter pool. So, everything in that pool pertains to the fourth quarter.
So, people who are watching the game will see DraftKings ad will come up and will point them to our website to go and play this fourth quarter million dollar pool, which anybody can play anywhere regardless if wagering is approved in your state, because this is a free pool. We, DraftKings are putting up the money.”
With the spread for the game fluctuating, and the Kansas Chiefs being a 3 to 3.5 point favorite, the oddsmaker told us where he thinks the line will end up on Sunday:
“We’ll see where this thing ends up falling come the weekend. My guess is probably closer to 3.5 than 3.”
With a matchup of last year’s champion Kansas City Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback and Tom Brady who has been here multiple times before and is now playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, you might think oddsmakers would love this game. That is because you can make a case for either team, owing to these two NFL stars. Mr. Avello says he and others who set the lines for the biggest football game of the year do not get caught up in that type of thing:
“Bookmakers, we don’t kind of get caught up in, you know, certain players to make the game because the game is bigger than the players itself. So, even at times when the matchup is not as good as this, nothing’s bigger than the game.”
Last year, John Avello was part of the grand opening ceremony for DraftKings, when it officially opened offices here in Las Vegas. Being the former sportsbook manager at the Wynn Las Vegas, he believes the Entertainment Capital of the World will be fine once the pandemic comes under control. He sees no reason why Las Vegas will not come back to its original form saying:
“There was no conventions, no nightclubs, no dayclub, you know, no buffets, which a lot of us certainly like to attend. That’s all coming back. It’ll all be back. Hopefully, we get this thing under control in 2021 and Vegas will be the gala again to attend and have fun and great food and all the amenities that it has to offer.”
For more stories about DraftKings and this weekend’s championship football game, you can listen to the entire CYInterview with John Avello below:
Listen to the entire John Avello CYInterview:
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Listen to the entire John Avello CYInterview on YouTube: